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Cory Doctorow AWAY UNTIL JUN 26

22 Jun, 22 tweets, 19 min read

Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).

Inside: Improving the ACCESS Act; Juul's junk science; Peloton bricks its treadmills; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2021/06/22/vap…

#Pluralistic

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@locusmag

This Saturday, I'm appearing on a panel at the #LocusAwards for @locusmag. @WTalabi, @UnlikelyWorlds, @karenthology and I will discourse on "Future Tech: Working the Science into Your Fiction" at 13h Pacific.

locusmag.com/2021-locus-awa…

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https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1407111795894980629

Improving the ACCESS Act: Six ways to make the most important tech law of the legislative season even better.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1407111795894980629

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1407355932242108418

Juul's junk science: Reporting bias makes vaping's safety is a hazy mess.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1407355932242108418

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1407376003240927237

Peloton bricks its treadmills: Your kids are dead because you didn't buy the subscription.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1407376003240927237

#15yrsago Darwin’s tortoise dead at 176 web.archive.org/web/2006070414…

#10yrsago A Brief History of the Corporation: understanding what an attention economy is and where it comes from ribbonfarm.com/2011/06/08/a-b…

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#10yrsago Why fair use doesn’t work unless you’ve got a huge war-chest for paying lawyers waxy.org/2011/06/kind_o…

#10yrsago University of Michigan to stop worrying about lawsuits, start releasing orphan works web.archive.org/web/2011091501…

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#5yrsago Broken Windows policing is BS www1.nyc.gov/assets/oignypd…

#5yrsago Misconfigured database exposes sensitive data for 154 million US voters dailydot.com/debug/154-mill…

#5yrsago To understand the Trump campaign, study real-estate developer hustle web.archive.org/web/2016102803…

8/

#5yrsago Writing the Other: intensely practical advice for representing other cultures in fiction memex.craphound.com/2016/06/23/wri…

#1yrago Against AI phrenology pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cry…

#1yrago A/B Seattle pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cry…

9/

#1yrago Privacy in tracing tokens pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cry…

#1yrago Congress wants to read all your DMs pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cry…

#1yrago Blueleaks pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cry…

#1yrago Surveillance electoralism pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cry…

10/

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1406992449671634949

Yesterday's threads: Podcasting "Inside the Clock Tower"; and more!

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1406992449671634949

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@washingtonpost

My latest novel is Attack Surface, a sequel to my bestselling Little Brother books. @washingtonpost called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance."

Get signed books from @darkdel: darkdel.com/store/p1840/Av…

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My book "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism" is a critique of Big Tech connecting conspiratorial thinking to the rise of tech monopolies (proposing a way to deal with both) is now out in paperback:

onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy…

Signed copies here:
darkdel.com/store/p2024/Av…

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@torbooks

My ebooks and audiobooks (from @torbooks, @HoZ_Books, @mcsweeneys, and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

craphound.com/shop/

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Upcoming appearances:

* Future Tech: Working the Science into Your Fiction (Locus Awards), Jun 26, locusmag.com/2021-locus-awa…

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@ConsumerReports

Recent appearances:

* The ACCESS Act, @ConsumerReports:
consumerreports.org/digital-rights…

* Raging Chicken @rcpress podcast:
rcpress.podbean.com/e/out-dcoup-li…

* Darts and Lasers podcast:
dartsandletters.ca/2021/06/11/ep2…

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@MCRockefeller

My first picture book is out! It's called Poesy the Monster Slayer and it's an epic tale of bedtime-refusal, toy-hacking and monster-hunting, illustrated by Matt @MCRockefeller. It's the monster book I dreamt of reading to my own daughter.

pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poe…

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You can also follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: pluralistic.net/2021/06/22/vap…

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@Medium

If you're a @Medium subscriber, you can read these - as well as previews of upcoming magazine columns and early exclusives on doctorow.medium.com.

My latest Medium column is "The EU, tech trustbusting and trade-wars": doctorow.medium.com/the-eu-tech-tr…)

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If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is also ad- and tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "👨🏽‍🦳". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

Subscribe here: pluralistic.net/plura-list

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Are you trying to wean yourself off Big Tech? Follow these threads on the #fediverse at @pluralistic@mamot.fr.

Here's today's edition: mamot.fr/@pluralistic/1…

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@BenGoldacre

Today's top sources: @BenGoldacre (twitter.com/bengoldacre/).

eof/

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More from @doctorow

Cory Doctorow AWAY UNTIL JUN 26

@doctorow

24 Jun

Today's Twitter threads (a thread).

Inside: The pandemic showed remote proctoring to be worse than useless; and more!

Archived at: pluralistic.net/2021/06/24/pro…

#Pluralistic

1/

@locusmag

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1408036621937647631

The pandemic showed remote proctoring to be worse than useless: Kill it with fire.

https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1408036621937647631

Read 19 tweets

Cory Doctorow AWAY UNTIL JUN 26

@doctorow

24 Jun

Before covid, "remote proctoring" tools were a niche product, invasive tools that spied on students who needed to take high-stakes tests but couldn't get to campus or a satellite test-taking room. But the lockdown meant that *all* students found themselves in this position.

1/

(If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:)

pluralistic.net/2021/06/24/pro…

2/

This could have prompted educators to reconsider the use of high-stakes tests. After all, high-stakes testing has well-understood limitations in pedagogy, and organizes education around a highly artificial ritual completely unlike the rest of scholarly *and* industrial life.

3/

Read 24 tweets

Cory Doctorow AWAY UNTIL JUN 26

@doctorow

24 Jun

@RepThomasMassie

I've been paying close attention to @RepThomasMassie during the #ACCESSAct markup and I can't figure out his point. He correctly observes that proprietary standards are anticompetitive, but opposes the gold standard for open standards, namely, an IPR policy requiring licensing

@RepThomasMassie

@RepThomasMassie has described himself as a software developer, but it really feels like he is way, way out of his depth on standardization. Has he ever participated in an SDO. Not being able to distinguish between "interop" and "common vuln" is a pretty tyro error.

@RepThomasMassie

It's stuff like this that makes people assume that lawmakers are incapable of understanding - and thus regulating - technology. @RepThomasMassie really needs to get up to speed on how standards work.

Read 5 tweets

Cory Doctorow AWAY UNTIL JUN 26

@doctorow

23 Jun

@RepThomasMassie

In the #ACCESSAct hearing, @RepThomasMassie called the shared vulnerabilities in large-scale hacks as stemming from "interoperability." That's factually wrong. They have "shared dependencies" (use the same code/modules). This isn't the same thing as "interoperability."

@RepThomasMassie

Then @RepThomasMassie correctly warned that when firms get to define standards to their proprietary advantage, it produces monopoly power. However, #ACCESSAct provides for OPEN standards, developed independently of large firms.